HaDSoc Flashcards
Define equity
everyone with the same need gets the same care
Define adverse event
injury caused by medical management that prolongs hospitalisation, produces disability, or both
Define a preventable event
adverse event that could be prevented given the current state of medical knowledge
Why do patient safety problems occur?
Poorly designed systems that do not take into account human factors Inadequate training Long hours Lack of checks Culture Behaviour Over-reliance on individual responsibility All humans make errors
What does failure to ensure that organisational systems are safe cause?
- Focus on finding short term fixes
- Encouragement of a heroic compensation
- People rushing and making mistakes
- Mistakes are tolerated
- Safety is degraded.
What is an active failure?
an act that leads directly to patient harm
What is a latent condition?
predisposing conditions that make active failures more likely to occur
They can be error provoking, or create long lasting problems
What is the Swiss Cheese Model?
holes = opportunities for a process to fail. Some are active faliures, some are due to latent conditions.
slices = “defensive layers” against potential error impacting the outcome
For an error to occur, successive layers of barriers, defences and safeguards need to be breeched
What are human factors?
psychological responses that are highly predictable
What happens if situational awareness is lost?
people persist with the wrong course of action
In what ways can we use a systems-based approach to promote good care?
- Avoid reliance on memory
- Make things visible
- Review and simplify processes
- Standardise common processes and procedures
- Routinely use check lists
- Decrease the reliance on vigilance
Define quality improvement
systematic effort to make changes that lead to better patient experiences and outcomes, system performance and professional development
What are some NHS Quality Improvement Mechanisms
Standard setting commissioning financial incentives disclosure regulation clinical audit Data gathering and feedback
How does standard setting lead to quality improvement?
NICE sets quality standards on best available evidence
these are used to deliver high quality, clinical and cost effective care
How does commissioning lead to quality improvement?
CCGs commission services
drives quality through competition
How do financial incentives lead to quality improvement?
reward and penalise
QOF pays GPs based on results
efficient trusts make money
if never event occurs, the hospital receives no money for that patient’s treatment
Describe the audit process
choose topic look at the criteria and standards, taking evidence into account evaluate implement change second evaluation cycle back to criteria and standards!
Explain clinical governance
framework by which NHS organisations are accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services by creating an environment in which excellent clinical care will flourish
Define evidence based practice
the integration of individual expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research
What are some benefits of systematic reviews?
- Help address clinical uncertainty
- Highlight gaps in research
- Appraise and integrate findings, meaning that quality is controlled so we can be more certain of our findings
- Offer authoritative, up-to-date and generalizable conclusions
- Save clinicians from having to locate and appraise studies for themselves
- Reduce delay between research discoveries and implementation
- Help to prevent biased decisions
- Easily converted into guidelines and recommendations
What are some practical criticisms of evidence based medicine?
- Creating and maintaining systematic reviews across all specialities may be an impossible task
- Disseminating and implementing the findings may be challenging and expensive
- RCTs are not always feasible
- The outcomes considered are often biomedical, of little importance to patients, as well as limiting the interventions which can be trialled
- Pharmaceutical companies need to be trusted about the quality of their RCTs
What are some philosophical criticisms of evidence based medicine?
- Doctors want to know the mechanism of an outcome = deterministic causality, whereas EBP only shows what the outcome is = probabilistic causality.
- Population level outcomes do not mean that an intervention will work for the individual
- Potential for the creation of unreflective rule followers who do not consider patients as individuals due to NICE and clinical governance.
- Could be used as a means of legitimising rationing, but just because a treatment is not cost-effective at a population level does not mean it is not effective to an individual patient.
- The loss of professional responsibility and autonomy as clinical judgement is no longer as needed.
Why is it difficult to get evidence into practice?
Evidence exists but doctors do not know about it
• Ineffective dissemination?
• Doctors not keeping up to date?
Doctors know about the evidence but don’t use it
• Habit?
• Organisational culture?
• Professional judgement?
Organisational systems cannot support innovation
Commissioning decisions reflect different priorities
Resources are not available to implement the change
• Financial
• Human
What is quantitative research?
the collection of numerical data
begins with a hypothesis and research
allows conclusions to be drawn about relationships between variables
Give some methods of quantitative research
RCT Cohort studies Case-control studies Cross-sectional surveys Official statistics Surveys – national, regional or local
Define valid
using an appropriate method to measure what you are trying to measure
Define reliable
measuring consistently
How can the validity and reliability of a questionnaire be ensured?
using a published questionnaire
What advantages do quantitative methods have?
finding relationships
allowing comparisons
What are the disadvantages of quantitative methods?
forces people into inappropriate categories
doesn’t allow people to express things in the way they want to
all important information may not be accessed
may not be able to establish causality
What is qualitative research?
Aims to make sense of phenomena in terms of the meanings that people bring to them.
emphasises meaning, experience and views of the respondents.
Analysis emphasises the interpretations of the researcher.
The findings can also provide insights into people’s behaviour.
Give some methods of qualitative research
observation and ethnography
interviews
focus groups
documentary and media analysis
Describe observation used in qualitative research
Studying human behaviour in its natural context, observing what people actually do
Gains access to behaviour that individuals themselves may provide biased accounts of, be unaware of or not consider worth commenting on
Describe interviews used in qualitative research
Semi-structured by using a prompt guide. There is a clear agenda of topics.
There is an emphasis on participants giving their own perspective, which the interviewer facilitates
Describe focus groups used in qualitative research
quick method for defining the scope of a particular problem or for accessing group based collective understanding of an issue.
Not so useful in understanding individual experience as deviant views mat be inhibited and some topics may be too sensitive for focus groups
Difficult to arrange as a fairly homogenous group is needed and a good facilitator who can manage the group dynamics
Describe documentary and media analysis used in qualitative research
Independent evidence eg. patient diaries
Provides a historical context
Useful for subjects difficult to investigate
What are the advantages of qualitative research?
gain an understanding of people’s perspectives
access information that cannot be reached by quantitative research
explain relationships between variables
What are the disadvantages of qualitative research?
difficult to find consistent relationships between variables
samples often not statistically representative, so findings cannot be generalised
Why do deprived groups have higher use rates of GP and emergency services?
Health is managed as a series of crises, with health care only accessed when things become a problem
Ill health becoming normalised. People accept ill health rather than trying to do something about it
Event-based consulting required to legitimise a consultation, so the patient will only access health services when there is clearly something wrong
Difficulty marshalling resources needed for negotiation and engagement with health services e.g. employment, childcare, getting to the surgery
Tendency to use more ‘porous’ services
Lack of cultural alignment between health services and lower socioeconomic status
Doctor’s judgement of a patient’s technical and social eligibility may affect referrals and offers of healthcare
What is the Artefact explanation for health inequalities?
What is a limitation of this explanation?
health inequalities are evident because of the way statistics are collected
They are not really there!
data problems would lead to an underestimation of inequalities
What is the Social Selection explanation for health inequalities?
What is a limitation of this explanation?
a person’s health status leads to their social position
Chronically ill and disabled are more likely to be disadvantaged
diseases that take longer to kill would be more prevalent in lower socioeconomic groups
What is the Behavioural-Cultural explanation for health inequalities?
What is a limitation of this explanation?
ill health is due to people’s decisions, knowledge and goals
People from disadvantaged backgrounds tend to engage in more health damaging behaviours, while people from advantaged backgrounds tend to engage in more health-promoting behaviours
in adverse conditions, decisions may be difficult to exercise
choices may not be available for those whose lives are constrained by a lack of resources
What is the Materialist explanation for health inequalities?
What is a limitation of this explanation?
inequalities arise form differential access to material resources and exposure to hazards or constraints (income, environment, occupation, housing). People have a lack of choice in what factors they are exposed to. Accumulations of factors over lifetime
further research is needed to determine the precise routes through which material deprivation causes ill health
What is the Psychosocial explanation for health inequalities?
Stressors (negative life events, social support, job security) are distributed on a social gradient
stress impacts on health directly and indirectly
What is the Income Distribution explanation for health inequalities?
What is a limitation of this explanation?
Relative income affects health. Countries with greater income inequalities have greater health inequalities.
It is the most egalitarian societies that have the best health
Social cohesion is important for health
Define inequality
when things are not equal
Define inequity
inequality that is unfair or unavoidable
Define a lay belief
how people understand and make sense of health and illness
constructed by people with no specialised knowledge they are socially embedded and very complex
draw on cultural, social and personal knowledge and experience and a patient’s own biography
Define health behaviour
activity undertaken for the purpose of maintaining health and preventing illness
Define illness behaviour
activity of ill person to define illness and seek solution
What is the illness/symptom iceberg?
most symptoms experienced by patients will never be known by a doctor
What is the lay referral system ?
chain of advice seeking contacts which the sick make with other lay people prior to – or instead of – seeking help from health care professionals.
What is the negative definition of health?
What demographic is this definition most common in?
health = the absence of illness
Most common in low SE groups
What is the Functional definition of health?
What demographic is this definition most common in?
health = the ability to do certain things.
Most common in the elderly
What is the positive definition of health?
What demographic is this definition most common in?
health = state of wellbeing and fitness.
Most common in high SE
In terms of adherence, describe a denier
Do these people adhere to treatment?
= those who deny they have a condition/having the ‘proper’ disease.
claim that their symptoms do not interfere with their everyday life
use complex and drastic strategies to hide their disease. T
they will not adhere to their treatment, due to not accepting their disease identity
In terms of adherence, describe an acceptor
Do these people adhere to treatment?
= those who accept their disease diagnosis and doctor’s advice completely.
Yes! They take control of their symptoms through medication and do not see their disease identity as a stigma.
In terms of adherence, describe a pragmatist
Do these people adhere to treatment?
= those who use preventative treatment, but only when their symptoms get very bad. See their disease as a mild illness.
Which definition of health is useful in health promotion?
Why?
A positive definition of health
it looks at health as something that can be maintained and worked towards
Why are those from a lower socioeconomic group not follow health promotion advice?
focus is on improving the immediate environment
Why are those of a higher social class more likely to follow health promotion advice?
focused on long term investments
What are determinants of health?
a range of factors that have a powerful and cumulative effect on the health of populations, communities and individuals.
Includes:
physical environment
social and economic environment
individual genetics, characteristics and behaviours.
What is public health?
reform of physical environment to improve health
What is health education?
targeting individual health behaviour to improve health
What is health promotion?
the process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health
What are the principles of health promotion?
Empowering = enabling individuals and communities to assume more power over health determinants
Participatory = Involving all concerned at all stages of the process
Holistic = Fostering physical, mental, social and spiritual health
Intersectoral = Agencies from relevant sectors collaborate
Equitable
Sustainable = changes that individuals and communities can maintain once funding has ended
Multi-strategy
State the approaches to health promotion
Medical or preventative = encouraging people to seek help
Behaviour change
Educational
Empowerment = a patient’s health is their own responsibility
Social change
What is primary prevention?
preventing the onset of disease or injury by reducing exposure to risk factors
State some primary prevention strategies
immunisation
prevention of contact with environmental risk factors
Taking appropriate precautions with communicable diseases
Reducing risk factors from health related behaviours
What is secondary prevention?
to detect and treat a disease (or its risk factors) at an early stage
prevents progression or potential complications and disabilities from the disease in the future
State some secondary prevention strategies
screening
monitoring
What is tertiary prevention?
minimises the effects of an established disease
State some tertiary prevention strategies
maximising remaining capabilities of a disabled patient
giving steroids for asthma to prevent asthma attacks
giving a renal transplant
How can health promotion lead to a neglect of public health?
the focus on individual responsibility
What are some dilemmas of health promotion?
interfering in people's lives victim blaming fallacy of empowerment reinforcing negative stereotypes unequal distribution of responsibility the prevention paradox
Explain how health promotion raises issues about the ethics of interfering in people’s lives
potential psychological impact of health promotion messages leads to high levels of anxiety, especially if people cannot address the problem.
The idea of a ‘Nanny State’ is also a worry – do people have a right to make their own choices?
Explain how health promotion raises issues of victim blaming
Focus on individual behavioural change plays down the impact of wider socioeconomic and environmental determinants on health
Explain how health promotion raises issues about the Fallacy of Empowerment
Giving people information does not give them power. Unhealthy lifestyles are not often due to ignorance but due to adverse circumstances and wider socioeconomic determinants of health.
Explain how health promotion raises issues of unequal distribution of responsibility
The implementation of healthy behaviours in the family is often left up to women
Explain how health promotion raises issues about the prevention paradox
Interventions that make a difference at a population level often have little effect at an individual level.
If people don’t see themselves as a candidate for a disease they will not take on health promotion messages!
What is evaluation?
rigorous and systematic collection of data to assess the effectiveness of a programme in achieving predetermined objectives
Why is evaluation needed?
evidence based interventions can be found
interventions are found to be legitimate = accountability
it is ensured there is no direct or indirect harm = ethical
programmes can be managed and developed
What is process evaluation?
assessing the process of programme implementation
Employs a wide range of mainly qualitative methods
What is impact evaluation?
assessing the immediate effects of an intervention
What is outcome evaluation?
measuring the longer term consequences.
The timing of the evaluation can influence the outcome, for example there may be a delay (interventions take a long time to have an effect) or decay (some interventions wear off rapidly)
What are some difficulties of evaluation?
possible time lag to effect
confounding factors
high cost
the intervention design makes it difficult to assess
Define illness narrative
the story-telling and accounting of practices that occur in the face of illness
What is illness work?
= work performed when getting a diagnosis,
managing the symptoms of a chronic illness,
dealing with the physical manifestations of the disease and must be done before being able to cope with social relationships.
What is everyday life work?
=managing daily living
Define coping
the cognitive processes involved in dealing with illness
Define strategy
the actions and processes involved in managing the condition and its impact
Describe the process of normalisation
A patient can choose to keep their pre-illness life style and identity intact by disguising or minimising their symptoms, or they can designate their new life as “normal life”. This would signal a change in identity, rather than preserving an old one.
What is emotional work?
= managing one’s own emotions and those of others.
This is the work that people do to protect the emotional well-being of the people around them.
Patients will make a conscious effort to deliberately maintain normal activities.
If people do find friendships disrupted, it may be easier for them to withdraw or restrict their social terrain.
Patients may downplay pain or other symptoms, presenting a ‘cheery version’ of themselves.